Ribbon-feed mechanism



April 13 1926.

w. w. LASKER RIBBON FEED MECHANISM Filed Deo. 18, 1923 2 sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTUR www Wmqq @um J/IM gip/.3

E ras@ rar 'WILLIAM lw. LASKER., or BnooKLYmNnw ronir, assrenos ao rowers Accouiri- N naar aortica..

ING- MACHlNE CORPORATION, OF yNEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

RIBBON-FEED IJLECIANISM.

appncanonalea December 1s, 1923.V serial No; 681,335.

To all whom t may concern: f

Be it known that I, NILLIAM W. Laeken, a titizenv of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Brooklyn, New York, have invented .certain new and useful vImprovements in Ribbon-Feed Mechanism, of which thejfollowinO is a specification.

Y yy invention relates to printing ktabulating machines, and in particular relates to means for eiiectingthe feed of the type ribbon which is used in such machines.

Printing tabulating machines such as areused for tabulating the ldata from punched cards frequently areso built that the oper# ator can cause the machine either to tabu.

late each item together with the totals, or cause the machine to print the totals only. `With such machines it is customaryr to have the type ribbon advance for each operation, irrespective of whether the machine is printing or not. Specifically, my i` vention relates to a mechanism whereby the ribbon advancing gear in such machines is connected with the print control mechanism by cut-out gear,v so' that if theprinting hammers are heldso that'tliey do not tabulate each item, the ribbon will not advance except when a total is taken; on the other hand, if the mabodying my invention together with the co.

`operating parts of' the tabulating machine is shown in the'accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an end view, with certain parts broken away, better to show 'the construction. Fig..2 is a-section on line 2-#2 ofFig. 1, butshowing the ribbon drivingmechanism in a difterent position from Fi 1. Fig. 3 is a section on line'3.-3 of Fig. 4, and Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Referring to they drawings, 10 is shaft forming part of the regular tabulating mechanism which controls the operation of the printing hammers (not shown). lV hen this -held in position shown vin full lines inFig.

shaft is in the position 4illuetratedin Fig;` l1, vthe printing hammers are allowed to opcrate. This shaft isunder springtension by i a spring not shown, which tends to cause the shaft to rotate in a clockwise direction for about 15 degrees from the position shown. When the shaft 10 hasvthusrotated, the printingV hammers are locked so that they caniiot operate.' This is well understood in the art, and therefore the detailedy mechanism Vfor accomplishing thisresult is not dey scribed in the present specification.

lnorder to control the position of shaft 10,v and thus to control the operation of the printing hammers, there is fixed on shaft 10 an arm 11 carrying a pin 12. The hammer release lever 13 is pivoted to the mainframe at 14 and has its upper end adapted to cooperate with pin 12, and at its lower end is bent over to formaV plateV 15, lwhich contacts with pin 16. The pin 16 is under pressure from spring 17 which tends to cause"y the pin to move into the position shown 4in dotted lines in Fig. 1,'but this pin can be 1 by pin l18 which engages with a catch meinber 19. 'When pin .16 is locked in the position shown in full lines in Fig 1, shaft 10 is likewise held-in the position shown inFig. 1 and the y printing 'hammers will operate. When pin 16 is allowed 4to return to the position' shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, lever 13, underv usual conditions, oscillates and permits shaft 10 to rotate into the nonprmt-position. If the operator wishes to have each iteml tabulated, pin 16 is'fibzed in the position'shown in full lines in Fig. 1; 1f each item is ,not to be tabulated, pin `16 is allowed to move' out to the position shown in dotted lines.

It is 'of course necessary that when 'a total is taken, the printinghammers be allowed to function independent of the setting of pin 16,` vThe mannerV in which this is accomplished is shownin Fig. 1, in which the parts are illustrated in ythe yposition which they assumewlien 'a total is being taken. Shaft 2O which, in'operation, rocks through anarc of about 30 degrees, is shown' as rotated to its extreme vcounter-clocl'rwisel position. Attached to the shaftQO is Van arm 21 to which is pivoted the total connecting link 22. Link 22 isV connected to thetotal taking-mechanism (not shown) in such a way that when a totaly is beingtakenL this link is held in the position shown in Fig. 1. After the total has been'takemthis link moves to the right a distance equal to themovement permitted in pin 16. Screwed toV the link 22 is a bracket 23, which has an extension 24 which contacts with lever 13 and by oscillating this lever moves shaft 10 into the printing position. total mechanism in the position-shown in Fig. 1, the printing hammers will operate, irrespective of the setting `of pin 16. I-Iowever, the totalling parts are in this position only when a total is being taken and under normal -tabulating conditions the extension 24 of bracket 23 is clear of lever 13.

The parts thus far described relate primarily to the printing tabulating'machine itself, and except as they cooperate withlgthe ribbon release mechanism, form no part of the present invention.

In order to control'the movement of the ribbon, I provide a lever 25which contacts with lever 13. Thelever 25 is connected with a plate'26, or it maybe integral with the plate 26 which is pivoted toa bracket 27, and which contacts with the upper end of va pin 28. Pin 28 in turn contacts with an arm 29 which is fixed on a shaft 30, A4

spring 31 tends to raise the free end of arm 29 and thustolift pin 28. In Fig.V 1 p in 28 is shown indepressed position, re-

. sultin'gfrom pressure exerted onl lever 25 Vmechanism are 4in the non-print position,

arms 32 and 33v will depress spring platesV 34 and 35. However, when arm 29 is depressed, arms 32 and 33 are lifted and spring plates 34`and 35 are allowed to assume the position shown in Fig. 2. Attached to the` main rock-shaft 36 ofthe tabulating mechanism (see Figs. 3 and 4) is an arm 37 and pivoted on shaft 36 isv an arm 38.v Screw 39 passes through a slot 40 in arm 37 and causes arm` 38 tov follow part of the movement .of arm 37. Shaft 36 rocks through an angular movementV of 60 but vbecause screw 39 moves in slot r40, arm' 38. will'mov'e through an angulary movement of considerably less Vthan 60. Pivoted to arm 38'are -a pair of segmental racks 41 and v42. .Rack 41 is so vpositioned thatfit isl pushed upward by springplate 34 and rack 42 is similarly pushed up by spring plate 35; but the extent to which these racks are pushed up will depend upon the position of spring plates With the 41 is a ratchet gear 43 mounted on a shaft 44 which is connected by a bevel gear 45 with shaft 46, at the top of which is fixed a ribbon spool 47, A ratchet gear 48, similar to `gear 43, is adaptedftocoopegrate with rack 42 and is attached to a shaft 49 which is connected with the other ribbon spool not shownV in the drawing. When shaft 10 is held in the printing position, one or the other of racks 41 or 42 is held by spring plates 34 or 35 pressed against the corresponding gearsl43 or 48 with a yielding pressure, so that ,reciprocating movement of Vthe arack will cause its ratchet gear to rotate in one direction. However, when lever 13 movesto releasel shaft 10, and thus to lock the print.

ing hammers, shaft 30 is rocked by springv 31 and spring plates 34 and 35 are depressed p by arms 32 and 33, so that racks 41 and 42' are `permitted to drop clear of gears 43 and 48. 'In' other words, the ribbon drivj ing mechanism is directly connected with the print control mechanism and the ribbon is onlyl advanced afterv each printing operag Y. ,Q9 0bviously, it is not'feasible to drive'both i tion.

ribbon spools at once, so'I supply mechanism that will disconnect either rack 41 or 42 from its corresponding gear. This mechanism comprisesthe bar 49 (to which spring plates 34 and 35 are attached) which carriesV a cam block 50. In Fig. 2 cam block50 is shown inv positionV where it will holdI rack l42 allowed to engage with .gear 48 and rack 41 l will beheld clearof gear 43, .so that the ribbon will be unwound from spool 47.

In Fig. 1,.the parts are shown in the posi'- tion vwhere ythe ribbon is being unwound f from spool. 47, just beforethe movementof the spools is reversed to the position shown in Fig. 2. In order to accomplishlthereversal, I use the pin-L51 which, Vasis well understood in the art, is held `by spring tenision away from the centerof spool 47 but is drawn .towardthe centerbythe tension of' the ribbon. When the ribbon is substantially all unwound from spool 47, pin :51 springs out to the position shown in Fig. 1

and on thenext rotation this pin will strike the reverse lever 52. Y reverse lever 52 strikes arm `53fon shafty54l The' lower iend of the' Extending from shaft 54 is "arm 55 which i is4 connected with bar 49 insucha waythat .when `pin 51 strikes the upper end of lever.`

52, bar 49 is pushed into the position' shown in Fig. 2 and immediately spool47 `will be'v Y driven positively and will start towindup the ribbon.

yIt is to be understood that the foregoing example is given for purposes of illustration only, and it is not intended that my claims shall be limited to the exact construction shown, for those skilled in the art will readily be able to modify the construction in many details without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Vhat I claim is:

1. A tabulating machine having printing mechanism for tabulating and taking totals `and having printing control mechanism whereby the machine may be set either` to tabulate each item and print the totals, or to print the totals only, in combination with mechanism yfor advancing the type ribbon, and cu t-out mechanism operatively connected with said printing control mechanism and with the mechanism for advancing the type ribbon, so that the ribbon will be advanced only when the printing mechanism is in operative position.

2. A structure ask defined in claim l, in which the mechanism for advancing the type ribbon comprises a shaft operatively connected with a ribbon spool and positively drivenmeans for causing such shaft to rotate intermittently, and in which the cut-out mechanism comprises means for disconnecting such positively driven means from such shaft when the printing mechanism is not in operative position.

3. A structure as defined in claim l, in which the mechanism for advancing the type ribbon comprises a shaft operatively connected with a ribbon spool, a gear on said shaft, and positively driven means for causing said shaft to rotate intermittently, comprisingy a segmental rack pivoted so that it can be moved in and out of engagement with said gear.

4. A device as defined in claim 1, in which the mechanism for advancing the type ribbon comprises two shafts, each operatively connected with a ribbon spool and positive means for causing such shafts to rotate together with automatic means operated by the ribbon for disconnecting such means from, one shaft and connecting such means with the other shaft, and in which the cut-out mechanism comprises means for disconnecting such positively driven means fromv both shafts when the printing mechanism is not in operative position.

5. A device as defined in claim 1, in which the vmechanism for advancing the type ribbon comprises two shafts, a gear on each of said shafts, means for operatively connecting each ofsaid shafts with a ribbon spool, positively driven means for causing such shafts to rotate, comprising a pair of segmental racls pivoted so that each can separatelybe moved in and out of engagement with one of said gears, automatic means operated by the ribbon for disconnecting one of said racks from one of said gears and connecting the other of said racks with the other of said gears, said device likewise comprising means whereby such racks can simultaneously be caused to move away kfrom said gears.

WILLIAM W. LASKER. 

